Five Lies Cam Told His Parents
by SamanthaKathy
Summary: Five times Cam lied to his parents and the problems it brought him.


**Author's note: originally published 18 August 2011 on AO3. It was written as a reply to a prompt on the Pentangular Gate community over on LJ.**

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Over the years Cam has gotten better at lying to his parents. It's not something that he's proud of. He can count the lies he's told them on one hand, but it still hurt when he thought about it.

The first time he ever lied to his parents, he was six years old. His mother had saved a piece of chocolate pie they'd had for dessert for his father, who was working late that day. Cameron's sweet tooth had gotten the best of him and he'd eaten it, even though he knew he wasn't supposed to. When his mother had found the pie missing about half an hour later, she'd asked him if he was the one who had eaten it.

"Nu-uh, I didn't," he'd said.

Cam is reasonably sure she wouldn't have believed him even if his face hadn't been covered in chocolate, but with such clear evidence, the lie was easily exposed. It had resulted in a lecture from his mother, one from his father when he came home, another one from his grandmother the next day, and one from the preacher at their church the following Sunday. And that was on top of the doubling of his chores and the month he was grounded.

The punishment, and in particular the lectures, had been horrifying enough that he hadn't told his parents another lie for the next ten years. Until the day his older brother Robert had snuck out of the house to go to his girlfriend, who was home alone that night. His parents had discovered Robert missing and had asked Cameron if he had any idea where his brother was.

"I have no idea,' he'd answered, because he knew that if his parents discovered Robert and Anna together, there'd be a modern day shotgun wedding.

His parents hadn't called him on the lie, but he was pretty sure they hadn't believed him, for the rest of the week his mother served every meal Cam hated and that Sunday the preacher talked at length about lying. Sometimes Cam wonders if that lie had been worth it, seeing as that three years later Robert and Anna married each other anyway.

Two years later, Cam told his third lie to his parents. He'd gone through basics and was home on leave for the weekend when his mother had asked him if he was still going to church. He'd said yes, but the truth was that he hadn't gone to church since he left home. But he only had the weekend with his parents and he hadn't wanted to fight with them. His mother had frowned, but seemed to believe it. He still hadn't told his parents he didn't go to church anymore, but he thought they knew anyway.

The fourth time he'd lied to his parents had been when he'd been stationed on the F-302 squadron. His mother had, once again, asked him about his social life, if he'd met a girl yet. It was her basic lecture about settling down and starting a family, but Cam's patience for it had run out.

"I'm too busy with my career right now," he'd said. "Maybe in a few years time."

It was a big fat lie, of course, but it shut her up. There was plenty of time to date, but there was never going to be a girl. That, however, was something he would never be able to tell his parents. So he lied about maybe finding a girl someday, just not now. He knows they bought the lie, because if they knew the truth, they wouldn't be speaking to him anymore.

The last lie he'd told his parents was when he went back on duty after he'd completely recovered from the crash in Antarctica. He'd told them he was now working on a deep space radar telemetry project, based out of Cheyenne Mountain. It was the same cover story everyone working for the SGC used, so that wasn't the real problem. No, the problem, and the lie, had come when his mother had asked if that was in any way dangerous.

"Nah, it's inside a mountain in Colorado, it's not dangerous at all," he'd told her.

Now, lying in the infirmary after getting injured again, Cam thinks back on that last lie. It's the one that bothers him the most. Not because he's gotten so good at lying to his parents that they believe him without a hint of doubt. No, it's because with the Ori out there, he knows his parents will find out about the last lie, and he won't be around to say 'I'm sorry'.


End file.
